Belgian rider had to overcome
a broken foot early in the sea-
son, but broke through to card
a runner-up finish behind his
teammate.
Strijbos was a strong contend-
er in Sweden, giving Febvre a
solid challenge especially in the
second moto when he jumped
out to an early lead. Strijbos led
most of the race until Febvre saw
an opportunity late in the race to
take control, and rob Strijbos of
the win.
"In the second race I had the
holeshot but because I went a
little bit wide, Kevin [Strijbos]
came inside," Febvre recalled.
"I knew it would be difficult to
pass him. I made a couple of
mistakes and in my mind I was
thinking second was enough to
win the GP, but after two laps I
was again on his rear wheel so
I decided again to try and pass
and made it happen with three
laps to go."
In the MX2 class, Honda Gari-
boldi's Tim Gajser continues to
be a force. The Slovenian rider
went toe to toe with champion-
ship leader Jeffrey Herlings, and
the two had a good duel in the
first moto with Herlings taking
the win. But in the second moto,
a mistake by Herlings left the
door wide open for Gajser, who
went on to win the race and the
overall while Herlings' day ended
prematurely.
Yamaha's Valentin Guillod
was another threat in the MX2
class. After a third-place finish
in the opening moto, he was
looking to improve on his fin-
ish, but things got complicated
when he nearly got caught up in
Herlings' crash.
"Herlings went down in front
of me and I hit him and bent my
gear shifter," Guillod said. "So I
had to ride changing gears with
my heel. On the first laps I had
to learn to use it like that so it
took me some time to figure out
how to do it."
The Swiss rider held on to
finish fourth in the moto to claim
second overall ahead of Suzuki
rider Jeremy Seewar. Herlings'
1-DNF score earned him a
seventh-place finish.
Jean Turner
VOL. 52 ISSUE 27 JUNE 7, 2015 P27
The dusty
and hard-
pack course
in Uddevalla,
Sweden
required a
steady throttle
hand.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
RAY
ARCHER/KTM
IMAGES
